Democrats appear to hold edge in CNN midterms poll

WASHINGTON — The battle to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh hasn’t turned into an electoral advantage for Republicans so far, according to a CNN poll that found Democrats with a large lead headed into November midterm elections.

In a generic ballot matchup, likely voters favored the Democratic Party’s candidate for Congress 54 percent to 41 percent over the Republican candidate, according to the poll. That’s little changed from September.

Democrats have a 30-point lead with women voters, 63 percent to 33 percent, the poll found. Men favor Democrats by only about 5 points, 50 percent to 45 percent. The survey was conducted by telephone Oct. 4-7 and had a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.

The poll is one of the first national surveys to be released that was conducted just as senators were voting on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Republican strategists and President Trump have argued that Democrats’ efforts to slow the judge’s confirmation have electrified Republican voters.

Instead, enthusiasm has increased among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, with 62 percent of registered Democrats describing themselves as “very” or “extremely” enthusiastic to vote – 7 points more than a month ago.

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, enthusiasm was up 3 points from September to 53 percent.

But in one encouraging finding for Republicans, the poll found that more voters expect Republicans to control Congress after the midterms.

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